This was the longest and best lucid dream yet. So incredible. Used WILD on this one and for the first time created a dream portal. At one point I saw a roll-up door in front of me and said to myself, “that door is a dream portal and when I open it, the other side will be a dream world.” I opened the door and walked out onto a steel ramp and out into the street of the dream world. I headed for the first building I could find, a store.

Walked into a store and looked around it was kind of dark inside. A girl at the counter was dark skinned, looked Indian. She asked me what I wanted. I said “Do you happen to have a dream portal available, I’d like to buy one." She gave me a strange look. “No sir we don’t have that.” I explained to her and another guy that I had used a portal to get there but there was no response. They showed me different things they had for sale, really odd things. "Can I see that?" I asked. But then I just wanted to touch it. I told them I didn't want to buy anything, just touch things. Just kept asking if I could touch things. They would open the packages up slightly and let me touch. They definitely thought I was weird. Grabbed this huge bag of some kind of potato chip like things and opened the bag. They were kind of reddish in color like they had paprika on them. Tasted one and it was very crunchy, similar to a potato chip, but different, can’t remember the exact flavor. I took out my money and asked how much. The guy behind the counter said it was 7 of some strange currency that I had never heard of. He showed me some. It looked strange and I couldn't even read the writing. “Uhh, I only have American dollars”. By the look on his face I knew there was a problem. He looked at the bills and said something like “Yeah I've seen these before, they’re not worth much” I started worrying I wouldn't have enough money so I asked "Well, will you take them?" He said, "Yes but you need to give me 14." “What?! 14 dollars for a bag of chips!” Then he says “O.K. tell you what, you take your dollars out there on the street, and exchange them, then come back, see how much you get.” I wasn't about to test him, figured he was probably right. “O.K. you’re probably right, I’m not going to try that.” Gave him the money. Then I talked to someone else at the store who wanted to look at a small pile of papers I had with me. This guy was really into the fact that it was dream world and he said that he was also dreaming. We discussed it quite a bit. He found something in the papers that I didn’t know was there that had writing in Arabic. He slowly starts reading it. You can read Arabic? I said "Wait, give me a pen so I can write this down. I want to remember it when I wake up." He read the first part which was something about Alexandria, there was only three words he read and I kept writing them down going over my writing a few times because the pen wasn't really writing well on the paper, it was coming out kind of light. This guy was really into the dream world. He knew we were both in it and I explained that my goal was to take back this thing I had written so that I could see if it matched the Arabic which I can’t read in waking life. He thought it was a good idea, and wanted to help me. But at one point I looked through my things and couldn't find the paper with the writing on it. He looked through some kind of device on the wall and said, “It should be in there somewhere, I just checked." So I went out of the store and onto the street which was crowded with people. I really wanted to know more about them, I looked closely at the detail in the faces, really looked like real people. I especially wanted to know if they knew about lucid dreaming. I grabbed one guy and started talking with him, he said EVERYONE there was into lucid dreaming and they all knew it was the dream world and would often come here. They were all going somewhere busily and I desperately wanted to ask one of them where they were from. I grabbed this one guy by the arm and stopped him. "You’re into lucid dreaming right?" “Yes” he says. So everyone here has a normal life in the waking world?" He said they all did. "So where do live in your waking life?" He said he was from Illinois.

At that point I just decided to go back and woke myself up. I’d say the dream lasted a good 20 minutes. Very excellent LD and I had really been hoping for a long one.

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? Morpheus

lucidinthe sky wrote:I grabbed one guy and started talking with him, he said EVERYONE there was into lucid dreaming and they all knew it was the dream world and would often come here.

The last time this happened to me was July 22, 2013. Almost 3 months ago. I was in a grassy, green field and met an Indian/Middle Eastern/Pakistani guy that knew it was a lucid dream, and he wasn't the only one there who knew it. It felt like I was in a place where others go and meet up. When you say, 'best lucid dream yet', I believe you. When I wrote about mine in July I said it was the 'best conversation with a DC yet'. So I know how you feel.

I remember you writing one time before that you have a 'touch obsession' in lucid dreams. That shows in this one when you're in the store. There is nothing wrong with that.

You are more patient with the store clerks than I would have been. I would have argued and asked, "What do you even need money for anyway?!?!" In the past, I would have tried to fight them and cast them aside with a wave of my hand to expunge them from the dream. But that doesn't tend to work when a dream is very vivid and when the DC's are realistic. (I've learned my lesson the hard way, so I don't do that anymore).

lucidinthe sky wrote:the pen wasn't really writing well on the paper

I know what that's like. It happens for me too in lucid dreams. And in the past I use to get a few false awakenings in which I try writing my dream down out of habit, and the pen didn't work well at all. It was like the paper was greasy sometimes and ink wouldn't stick.

lucidinthe sky wrote:I grabbed one guy and started talking with him, he said EVERYONE there was into lucid dreaming and they all knew it was the dream world and would often come here.

The last time this happened to me was July 22, 2013. Almost 3 months ago. I was in a grassy, green field and met an Indian/Middle Eastern/Pakistani guy that knew it was a lucid dream, and he wasn't the only one there who knew it. It felt like I was in a place where others go and meet up. When you say, 'best lucid dream yet', I believe you. When I wrote about mine in July I said it was the 'best conversation with a DC yet'. So I know how you feel.

I remembered you'd written about being in a similar place so I was about to go looking for the post to find it. Glad you made it easier.

O.K. so it sounds like we've both been to the same place, and quite a place it is, wouldn't you say? In my dream the place was on the street in a city, but the same idea. The impression that I got was that it was a very special place, a meeting place for lucid dreamers. Lots of people were there. The energy level there was incredible, just buzzing. And it's just so real, so believable, all of these people who are into lucid dreaming and I wanted to talk to everyone. They were all telling me they were there for the same reason and they knew I was there for the same reason too. They all had their "day lives" and they would come there when they were dreaming. I didn't even have to explain what lucid dreams were. Definitely want to go back to that place. I must go back.

HAGART wrote:I remember you writing one time before that you have a 'touch obsession' in lucid dreams. That shows in this one when you're in the store. There is nothing wrong with that.

I always used to get annoyed whenever I took my kids to a store because they wanted to touch EVERYTHING. I couldn't understand it then, but now I understand. I am that child in the store. For me, everything in a dream must be touched and felt and the sensations evaluated. Like a rover on a foreign planet, probing, measuring, collecting information. One of my favorite things to touch is to grab a tree limb when I levitate as I'm going up. I reach out and grab one as it's going by and hold it to the point where it's starting to hold me back. Feels so real, the branch, the leaves, the branch bending, holding me back. Just amazing. How can you touch something in a dream? Something that's supposedly not even there?

HAGART wrote: You are more patient with the store clerks than I would have been. I would have argued and asked, "What do you even need money for anyway?!?!" In the past, I would have tried to fight them and cast them aside with a wave of my hand to expunge them from the dream. But that doesn't tend to work when a dream is very vivid and when the DC's are realistic. (I've learned my lesson the hard way, so I don't do that anymore).

My behavior in dreams is very calculated and it's for one reason: keep the dream as absolutely real as possible. It's my experience that if you want a dream to be real, then treat it like it's real. I am super-careful to treat the dreamscape and Dcs as if they were in waking life reality and also believe that it's real. This has actually become a problem for me at times because I completely forget it's dream and get confused which often makes me wake myself up. Of course there are exceptions to treating it as real waking life like asking strange questions and doing things like flying, putting your hands through things, etc. But I've found it's best to limit the crazy stuff if you want to maintain maximum realism. But that may different or not even important for others.

lucidinthe sky wrote:the pen wasn't really writing well on the paper

HAGART wrote:I know what that's like. It happens for me too in lucid dreams. And in the past I use to get a few false awakenings in which I try writing my dream down out of habit, and the pen didn't work well at all. It was like the paper was greasy sometimes and ink wouldn't stick.

Yes, these sorts of malfunctions are typical in dreams. The problem for me was also the paper, something was wrong with it. What was interesting was this guy who was supposedly trying to help me, but he really knew what was going on. I really was so sure I could take this piece of paper back with me, even though I was lucid and "knew" it was a dream. When I couldn't find it he looks into some view port in the wall and says "I just checked checked and it's there, you have it, don't worry" Yeah right! He had this look on his face that said "I'm really just trying to make you feel better about it".

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? Morpheus

lucidinthe sky wrote:I remembered you'd written about being in a similar place so I was about to go looking for the post to find it. Glad you made it easier.

I tried looking it up again out of curiosity. I finally found it in the Dream Character section, "Best Lucid Talk...". Although I had forgotten what I called it and where it was, I remember the date. You know it's an important dream when you always remember the exact date. I haven't met a DC like that since. But I should again one day.

The dream was about twice as long as what I wrote and I spoke to others too in that place. The realism of objects wasn't quite there and it was very chaotic to see. It was like everyone was juggling or breathing fire (not exactly), but imagine a fairground full of wacky characters all doing their own outlandish things.... that is what it was like. Everywhere I turned I saw something new and only remembered as best I could. Without 'keeping it real' the way you do, things can become very hectic and chaotic.

lucidinthe sky wrote:I remembered you'd written about being in a similar place so I was about to go looking for the post to find it. Glad you made it easier.

I tried looking it up again out of curiosity. I finally found it in the Dream Character section, "Best Lucid Talk...". Although I had forgotten what I called it and where it was, I remember the date. You know it's an important dream when you always remember the exact date. I haven't met a DC like that since. But I should again one day.

The dream was about twice as long as what I wrote and I spoke to others too in that place. The realism of objects wasn't quite there and it was very chaotic to see. It was like everyone was juggling or breathing fire (not exactly), but imagine a fairground full of wacky characters all doing their own outlandish things.... that is what it was like. Everywhere I turned I saw something new and only remembered as best I could. Without 'keeping it real' the way you do, things can become very hectic and chaotic.

I also looked up and found your post. The place where I was at was not chaotic, but everyone was rushing around and really busy. It felt like I was at home, the home of lucid dreamers. Just a really great feeling to be there, not the typical zombie type DCs that don't seem to know anything. These people were all gathered there as lucid dreamers and you could talk to any of them about it.

As far as keeping things real, I don't do anything special other than really believing it's real and trying not to get crazy. But that is very easy because all 5 senses are telling me it's real and it doesn't seem to matter that some part of me knows that it's a dream.

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? Morpheus